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tv   Debate Night in America  CNN  October 11, 2012 7:30pm-8:00pm PDT

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haven't noticed, we have strong disagreements. you probably detected my frustration with their attitude about the american people. approximate 3 0% of the american people are takers, romney points out 47% of people won't take responsibility. talk about my mother and father, talking about the places i grew up in, neighbors in claymont and francis. he's talking about people who built this country. all they are looking for is an even shot. whenever you give them a shot. they've done it. they've done it. whenever you level the playing field, they want to be able to move, and a piece of mind, the president and i won't rest until the playing field is level, they, in fact, have a clear shot and piece of mind. until they can turn to their kid and say with a degree of confidence, honey, it's employing to be okay. it's going to be okay. that's what this is all about.
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>>. >> congressman ryan. >> i want to thank you as well, martha, danville, kentucky, and centre college. i want to thank you, joe. it's been an honor to face you in this debate. we face a big choice. what kind of country will we be? what kind of country will we give our kids? president obama had his chance, made his choices. more spending, more barrowing, government takeover of health care, it's not working. it's failed to create the jobs we need. 23 million americans are struggling for work today. 15% of americans in poverty. this is not what a real recovery lookeds look. mitt romney and i want to earn your support. we're offering real reforms for real recovery for every american. mitt romney experienced, his
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ideas, solutions, is uniquely qualified to get this job done. we have a job crisis in america, don't we want a job grower in the white house. we want to produce opportunity and jobs. mitt romney and i won't duck the tough issues and blame others for the next four years, we'll take responsibility, and we will not try to replace our founding principles. we will reapply our founding principles. the choice is clear. it rests with you, and we ask you for your vote. thank you. >> thank you, both, again. thank you very much. this concludes the vice presidential debate. please tune in next tuesday for the second presidential debate at hofstra university in new york. i'm martha raddatz of abc news.
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i hope all of you go to the polls. have a good evening. [ applause ] >> they are joined by their families, the vice president of the united states and the republican vice presidential nominee. a strong debate with clear differences on some of the most critical issues facing the american voter. involving taxes, medicare, abortion rights for women, the vice president came out swinging today. unlike president obama. he immediately raised the issue of romney's controversial 47%. and he also spoke aggressively about the president saving the american auto industry, gm and chrysler in particular, but
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there was a testy exchanges on medicare and so many other issues. it looks like -- looks like at least to me, pretty much of a draw as far as this debate is concerned. we'll have full reality checks from our john berman, tom foreman, going through the facts described today. who was telling more of the truth. who was fibbing a bit. going through all of that tonight. you also saw those focus group results at the bottom of the screen. who liked what they saw. these were independent voters in virginia, we're certainly going to hear from them. erin burnett is standing by. we'll hear if any of them changed their minds as a result of what we heard. we also will get an instant poll. a scientific poll of people who actually watched this debate and they will give us their opinion who won, who came out stronger. the vice president, the kochman from wisconsin. they are still up on the stage. i'm sure they are both pretty happy right now with their respective performances and
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based on everything i saw tonight, it looked like their respective supporters were pleased, unlike the first presidential debate when so many democrats were deeply disappointed. it looks like the supporters will be there for both sides. look, actually spending quality time together, bidens and ryans, families together, unlike the first presidential debate. soledad, watching what's going on. a little friendly aftersmath. we didn't necessarily see that before. we see some of the kids there up on the stage and sitting in that area, looking pretty happy. obviously very proud of his dad. >> sitting in the debate chair, and the audience applauding as family members spending a few moments on the stage. audience, of course, not allowed to applause, didn't make noise when the debate was going on and that was because of the absolute
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masterful moderating by martha raddatz. she was 100% in control. a lot of substance in the debates. two clear paths laid out. a couple of moments people responded to. one was joe biden was malarky. they weren't allowed to make loud noises, but google said one of the most searched things. and clearly there was a sense even though there was some overtalking, it felt like a debate that had heavy substance, lots of detail and martha raddatz leading it every step of the way. people clearing out now that the debate was over. >> an important debate, and the democrats will be very pleased with what they heard from joe biden. and republicans will be pleased with what they heard from paul ryan. this debate will go down in
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history, very substantive. one thing on national security, foreign policy issues. congressman paul ride ryan. >> both men going toe to toe, and neither man blinking as you said. both sides, democrats and republicans, a lot there that they both will probably be happy about. let's go to panelists, reporters, john king. >> after the debate. america needs more of that. these are happy warriors. mrs. ryan went over and talked to the vice president. and we need more of that in washington and across america. people who can have a spirited debate, disagree on just about everything and then shake hands, say hey, how are you doing? >> i got the sense that joe biden enjoyed the debate. >> we talked about this at the beginning. a leading compassionate
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conservative voice and a leading compassionate liberal voice, but they respect the other side. they both did what they wanted to do the democrats are happy. look at the twitter verse, read e-mail, democrats were despondent, dispirited, in the first debate. happy tonight. he showed his boss what it is to engage, engage, engage. paul ryan came in, had to defend mitt romney. had to prove he was president. god forbid if he was president. there wasn't a wipeout in this debate. both sides came in, thinking we'll leave prosecute what we have to do. >> let's go to our panelist, joe biden. >> show me a policy where you take responsibility. by the way, the great recession, it fell out of the sky it came
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from this man voting to put two wars on a credit card and put a preskrichgs drug benefit on the credit card, a trillion dollar tax cut for the very wealthy. >> a quick takeaway. >> i think joe biden did do his boss a lot of help tonight. on substance, i think it was a draw. each side will draw a lot of encouragement from it. on style, i think paul ryan won the debate. and that is, the biden, the dismissive laughs, shouting, interruptions, ryan was calmer and more presidential on style, not substance. on substance, i thought it was a draw. >> it was condescending to paul ryan and i could have done with a lot less eye rolling and chuckling on the part of joe biden. however, i thought it was a great debate. one of the most substantive debates or engagements we have seen throughout this campaign. if people are undecided, they
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would decide. >> you could not take your eyes off it. could not turn away from a second. >> two different world views, different views about the economy. i don't know why there are any undecided people left after the debate. >> looking at reaction. >> biden had to buy his boss a week until the next debate, and he did that tonight. he fired up the obama base. gave it some energy. they could have taken away his laughing gas a little earlier, he was charming joe biden tonight. that wasn't his mission. i thought ryan proved himself unexpectedly confidence on foreign policy, reasonable, and not a scary republican that everybody was warned about. and i have to agree with david, a draw tonight, but ryan looked reasonable. onto the next one. >> it was interesting to see
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vice president biden continue to inject himself, even when ryan was talking. some would say he was annoying. the. >> romney has moved up, not that obama moved down. people thought better of romney and he began to move up. biden put romney on trial. my twitter, e-mail, on fire this is exactly the debate performance that democrats needed. biden showed fire. the one condescending moment when paul ryan look at him and said i know are you under a lot of duress. whoa, sunny boy! >> romney is a good man. he cares about 100% of meamerics in this country. with respect to that quote, i
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think the vice president very well knows that sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way. >> i always say what i mean and so does romney. >> we want everybody to succeed, get people out of poverty, and we believe in opportunity and upward mobility. >> vice president, i have a feeling you have a few things to say. >> the idea, if you heard that little soliloquy, you think he just made a mistake, i think -- i have a bridge to sell up. >> what do you think? >> they all -- whatever he said is right. republicans loved it. democrats loved it. curious to see what independents or not just independents, undecides thought. style matters. they gettist two different views
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that style matters. condescendi condescending, smirking, laughing. it was akin to gore sighing. would you be surprised how much tone when there is such a clear division. >> that's nonsense. >> i guess that settles that we can all go home now. >> former advisory to the white house? >> i first of all thought ryan acquitted himself well. i think he was sometimes robotic, he came across as smarmy, overprepared. sitting there, holding his own, and you could see him as president. he may have opened up some doors, though. you have to look at that. seems like he's willing to put americans in harms way in afghanistan, syria, possibly in iran. not as much on the table before. he did not say abortion would not become illegal under this new administration. i think if they win, that may be a problem for him. on the other hand, for me, for
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biden, put a lot of fact checkers out of work. fact checking in relltime. i thought that was awesome. and i thought the debate was american politics at it's best. >> fact checking on the spot, that's what democrats needed. democrats really needed this performance. not for the independents, but for the faithful to get back in the fight. he did that tonight. >> energize the base. >> one thing disappointed, that the moderator talked about the economy a lot. but afghanistan's, it wasn't ours. >> fell too much on forbes policy? >> we have a country that we fear will go over the precipice. >> what were you surprised by the amount of foreign policy. >> yes. martha's wheel house number one. and number two the vice president probably thought the more the marchier, although they
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want to score more points. it will actually overwhelmingly about the economy, so much time spent on foreign policy. americans pick presidents, not vice presidents, this won't move. no disrespect to the vice presidential candidates. america picks a president. dan quality did not have a good night in 1988, and his bogs won 40 states. >> but it does set up next week quite well. >> paul ryan did nothing to undermine conservative enthusiasm. the polls -- put all of the undecided voters and independent voters in this room right now, that's exaggeration. much like 122004, spend your ti energizing your people. and both sides will be happy that they did their job. >> we'll have more time to talk in detail.
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play you other key moments. but right now, back to wolf. >> one thing about martha rad daz, i think she did excellent job keeping both candidates in place, asking first-rate questions on domestic and foreign policy issues. poll people across the country. will they declare a clear winner, stand by for results. and we'll check in with the focus groups of undecided voters? did they hear anything that makes up their minds. a much closer look at the time each candidate walks and whether it made a difference. we're in the post debate spin room. a guest with her as well. >> hi, wolf. this time there was no delay for democrats coming into the spin room, they rushed right eed ri smiles on their face. a much livelier debate. must be relieves, 47% and taxes
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came up. vice president seemed very ayes, sirrive at times, were you concerned he was overcompensating for the president's performance. >> not at all. it was a divisive win for the obama/bid obam obama/biden campaign. ryan was on defense most of the night. in terms of biden being aggressive, joe biden is authentic. he says what he means, does what he says. spoke with conviction tonight. he cares about what he's saying and that showed. that came across to the american people. >> now, congressman ryan also made the case that this has been a negative campaign and he got some points in. are you convinced that there will be a difference showing up at the polls in the coming days? >> very little movement in the
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polls in the last week. >> a slide for you guys. >> a slight movement. this is a close race. we said it would be a close rate up to the end. these debates important. people are starting to make decisions. tonight, two very, very different visions, the difference between lifetime of fighting for the middle class versus someone who just learned the words middle class the past four weeks. >> what should we expect from the president the next to you weeks? will his he can bait be different. >> he will come ready to go, fired and the course of the next couple of days, he'll continue getting ready for it tonight, a decisive victory for the obama-biden campaign it really demonstrated the difference to the two visions. a strong middle class driving the economy, versus trickle down policies that crashed our economy in the first place. >> thank you, stephanie cutter.
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>> wolf, the democrats here are quite relieved with tonight's performance. >> jessica, get stephanie. a quick followup. she is getting criticism for comments she made about libya earlier in the day, blaming the romney/ryan ticket for this investigation going on in libya right now. does she want to explain what she meant. >> wolf is asking if you would like to defend yourself from some of the criticism that's come your way throughout the day. >> from the romney campaign? >> criticism during the day because of comments you made when you said libya -- that the deaths in libya were politicized by the romney/ryan ticket. >> there is a legitimate
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investigation going on to ensure it will never happen again. the romney/ryan campaign, from the get go, before families were notified, came out and criticized it. even yesterday on the campaign trail, politicizing the investigation. and i think that's irresponsible and reckless. >> are you suggesting this is only a story, because we're in a political -- >> absolutely not. the administration wouldn't be coming out and giving the facts and ensuring that the american people knows what's going on and what intelligence is showing. this is an important piece of information, an important piece of our history so we can make sure it never happens again. at the same time, we'rin the middle of a political campaign, let's remember the famous secret videotape, 47% of videotape where mitt romney said in a private room in front of a bunch of high-end donors, he was
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looking for something like this to take advantage of. we have to get to the bottom of what happened in libya. the administration is doing that responsively and thoughtfully and we have to continue doing that. tonight in the discussion over libya, paul ryan couldn't articulate what he would do differently than what the administration is already doing. >> thank you, stephanie. wolf, ready and willing to draw contrast at every opportunity from libya to taxes and the 47%. feeling relieved with the vice president's performance tonight. >> jessica, thank you very much. jim acosta, also in the spin room with a special guest. different perspective from your guest. >> i'm joined by the chair of the republican party. and we heard the congressman talk about the presidential
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candidate as my friend. it was a good idea about congressman ryan to drop the reference to -- isn't that a major no-no? >> maybe in 1988, but i think we're fine now, referring to lloyd benson. a great night for us, paul was solid, a command of the issues and quite frankly, i was embarrassed for the vice president. the laughs, 82 times that joe biden interrupted paul ryan. >> paul ryan was interrupting too. >> i don't know who his debate partner was, maybe it was ed schultz from msnbc, not sure. >> at one point, the moderator asked congressman ryan to offer specifics, where are loopholes going to be cut back to pay for the romney/ryan tax cut plan. >> the congressman has provided boat loads of specifics, look at tax policies, the ryan plan, the
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five-point plan, 59-point plan, the fact of the matter, we have specifics coming out of our ears, and joe biden and barack obama and the democrats have not passed the budget. they haven't passed a budget in over three years. no ground to stand on in this countr in this debate. no ground for president of the united states of america to be lecturing anybody about budgeting. they failed in their duty to this country. >> one thing you said before this debate. joe biden has been debating since the 1800s, so he has boat loads of experience. dewin tonight? >> no, he didn't use the experience he has to be respectful, clear, and state your point, wait for your opponent. fact of the matter when it came to substance, he didn't win and when it came to style, joe biden
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completely failed. >> do you think the momentum changed? >> i think it stayed on our side. they got to see what joe biden and barack obama are all about. people didn't like what they saw. >> wolf, back to you. >> lots of friends over there. guys, thanks. team of producers, researchers and reporters have been very, very busy figuring out whether candidates were telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in tonight's debate. john berman with a reality check on two of the international issues that came up, iran's quest for nuclear weapons and last month's dead al tack in libya. >> foreign policy was a big issue embassy security and what happened in benghazi, the vice president said the republican led house voted to cut security by $300 billion be ynd what the
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obama administration requested. >> the congressman cut embassy security in thinks budget by $300 million below what we asked for. >> what are the facts? the subpoenaing bill proposed did reduce the amount of security by over $300 million. verdict? true. but the democratic led senate did restore some of the funding in the final version signed by the president had bipartisan support for some reduction of funds for embassy security. on the issue of iran, the candidates argued a lot about nuclear weapons security. the ability to make nuclear bombs has quintupled under the obama administration. >> we cannot allow iran to gain luck lar weapons capability.
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let's take a look where we have come fro. war accident obama, they had enough material to make one bomb. now they have enough for five. >> the fact, the institute for science and national security said when obama took office in 2008, the iranians had enough to make one weapon. now they have five. if they had the capability to enrich uranium, which to the best of our ability, they don't have the ability to enrich urani uranium. so the. >> verdict here? partly true. less uranium, but they don't believe iran can make a bomb out of it yet. wolf. >> the first of several reality checks that we're doing in the course of our coverage here. erin burnett watched the debate way focus group of undecided voters in the swing state of virginia. let's go to norfolk right now. erin getting reaction what is the reaction, erin?
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it was interesting. i was watching them and i haven't even had a chance to tell them this. you were on the edge of your seats and people really were -- a fair word to describe this. people engaged in what was happening. 71% thought joe biden did better than they thought he would. and 55% thought that paul ryan did worse than they thought he would. that's a key headline to share in terms of how they rate these people at the end, in terms of a better vision for future, paul ryan wins among our likely voters undecided tonight. but in terms does the candidate better understand me? care more about me? joe biden won at the end of this over paul ryan with the people here. what was the takeaway in terms of who won? clear winner, unfortunately, this is a dead heat. a third for joe biden, a third for paul ryan and a third are
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undecided tonight. let me talk to a few. joe biden, those that thought joe biden did better. conversation very heated. let's start with claudia. you thought biden did better than ryan. why? >> he seemed to have a better command of the facts and more prepared with specifics. where i think ryan was more -- again, several people said he avoided giving specific information. biden seemed well informed. >> let's pass this back to arthur. why do you think joe biden did better? >> compared to what obama's performance, i thought he just didn't allow the facts to be blown out of proportion without
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the other side giving factual basis. >> these are some of the people that thought joe biden did better. a third of the people thought paul ryan was a winner. women tended to rate paul ryan more highly in our fork he is occupy. why you thought that paul ryan won. >> i thought paul ryan had aa better idea of the tax figures, educating us, is he until biden would try to dissort things by overriding him, talking, being a buffoon in general and very disappointed in the vice president acting that way. it gives good credence to term limits. >> that kfgs came up here separately. jennifer, why did you think paul ryan? >> i did not. i did

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